Albedo: Eyes from Outer Space

Now let me get out of the way, I like this game, its amazing b-movie sci fi feel is fantastic and but its controls are bit clunky and if you appreciate this pulpy sci-fi inspiration you are going to love it. and it looks amazing but the graphics can be a bit...confusing. WARNING: The version on GOG is sadly not the most up to date version (RC 1.00) the version on Steam is at RC 1.12. So purchase with this knowledge in mind.

Albedo didn't do a good job of introducing itself with a CTD (crash to desktop). Maybe it was "my" fault for switching from fullscreen (the default) to windowed mode. It's definitely not my fault that I changed the resolution about fourteen times, though: the developer thought it would be cute to control resolution with an in-game[-engine] widget—a twist knob. That would have been fine if "turning" the knob didn't switch the screen resolution immediately, which it does. Starting from 800x600px, it look a very, very long time to get to 1920x1080. I nearly gave up and went to see if there was a config file to edit. After that, the game rather goes downhill: the voice acting is both inept and muffled; I would guess someone recorded one of the developers or a friend talking on a gaming headset. The introduction doesn't make any real sense, even if the lines being spoken had explained anything. The graphics are absolutely inexcusable. The game's using some sort of engine that's clearly capable of attractive graphics; unfortunately, the developer went for an eye-searing palette and a level of contrast that looks like a badly overexposed photo. Anything that would be quite visible in semi-darkness in any other game simply vanishes. Most of the key items you need to progress are impossible to find unless you keep the PoV pointed straight down and you search rooms in a grid pattern. Of the things that are bright enough to see, most are hard to look at due to extreme glare. The game has also been coded very poorly, insofar as each tiny room you'll be in does not connect to other rooms geographically. Instead, you'll need to find each exit, move to within inches, and activate the move-to-other-place function. I was badly confused for several minutes in the first room; its door is blown off the hinges after the first puzzle is complete, leaving a depthless, black space hidden in near-impenetrable shadows. I wandered past the door several times without the interaction reticle activating, and I only found the door when I started deliberately searching the perimeter of the tiny room. ...Which brings me to the control scheme: it's awful. Switching inventory items works only sometimes. Other times, mousewheel events are ignored completely. There are two _mostly_ overlapping control schemes; mouse _or_ keyboard. Only the mouse can move the viewpoint or take things out of the inventory; it can interact with the environment, in theory, but it's both clunky and unlikely to respond correctly. Anything requiring the mouse buttons generally takes several attempts before anything happens. The keyboard is more reliable... usually... but it can't be used for inventory selection or switching from direct interaction to holding an inventory item. Both control systems feel as though one was intended to replace or fix the deficiencies of the other; they're not integrated or intuitive, and using them in combination is unbearably clumsy. I'm a veteran of 90s graphical adventure games, so I found the puzzles quite simple to solve... once I finally located an item that I knew I needed! One puzzle I encountered is even mildly clever and amusing. If I knew what the story was, I'm quite sure that I wouldn't care about it. The environments look and feel miserable. Interacting with the game world is visually painful and deeply frustrating to control. Unfortunately, that's the sole positive thing I can say about Albedo: a few puzzles were decent.

Sorry, have only negative things to say: strangest and worst mouse based controls ever , extremely too dark, graphics covering more then showing, bugs everywhere ( collision not working for enemies in shotgun level, disappearing rivet gun, levitating "time-tool" staying directly in the air while using ), unexplained controls in the climbing level, even easy action mode did not allow to win the shotgun level as collision only worked against me but not enemies (I easily survive in serious sam, unreal tournament and co.), irrational solution for killing the "unkillable" thing in the reactor cooling level, uneplained health system, extremely long loading times for tiny rooms. Save your nerves and your time, Finally you only will be following the online walkthroughs just to formally finish it. I had to stop it in the shotgun level, as the enemies simply could not be beaten even on easy because of the strange controls and collision bugs.

6 of 5 must play. 5 of 5 great story great gameplay. 4 of 5 great story average gameplay. 3 of 5 average story average gameplay. 2 of 5 play only if it's your favorite genre. 1 of 5 play if you have nothing better to do. 0 of 5 play if you're a masochist. -1 of 5 avoid. Albedo Eyes from Outer Space score is 3 of 5.